News Release
Social Marketing Campaign Focused on Reducing Mental Illness Stigma May Have Increased Use of Services by Those in Need
Jun 26, 2019
Social Marketing of Mental Health Treatment
California's Mental Illness Stigma Reduction Campaign
Published in: American Journal of Public Health, Volume 109, No. 53, Supplement 3, pages S228-S235 (June 2019). doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305129
Posted on RAND.org on October 10, 2019
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Access further information on this document at American Journal of Public HealthThis article was published outside of RAND. The full text of the article can be found at the link above.
Objectives
To understand the processes involved in effective social marketing of mental health treatment.
Methods
California adults experiencing symptoms of probable mental illness were surveyed in 2014 and 2016 during a major stigma reduction campaign (n = 1954). Cross-sectional associations of campaign exposure with stigma, treatment overall, and 2 stages of treatment seeking (perceiving a need for treatment and use conditional on perceiving a need) were examined in covariate-adjusted multivariable regression models.
Results
Campaign exposure predicted treatment use overall (odds ratio [OR] = 1.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.17, 2.83). Exposure was associated with perceived need for services (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.09, 2.47) but was not significantly associated with treatment use in models conditioned on perceiving a need (OR = 1.52; 95% CI = 0.78, 2.96). Exposure was associated with less stigma, but adjustment for stigma did not affect associations between exposure and either perceived need or treatment use.
Conclusions
The California campaign appears to have increased service use by leading more individuals to interpret symptoms of distress as indicating a need for treatment. Social marketing has potential for addressing underuse of mental health services and may benefit from an increased focus on perceived need.
Access further information on this document at American Journal of Public Health
This article was published outside of RAND. The full text of the article can be found at the link above.
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